TENNANT CREEK

Evening Post, Issue 11, 13 July 1936, Page 8

TENNANT CREEK

A BIG CELEBRATION

TWO LUCKY YOUTHS

(From "The Posts Representative.) SYDNEY, July 2. A chain of bonfires on the mines encircling Tennant Creek, the goldmining township in Central Australia, will be touched off during the first week in August to mark the attainment of the first £100,000 of production—representing about half a ton of gold. A dinner, a corroboree by blacks and a dance, starting at midnight, are all part of the programme. The miners are also trying to arrange a national broadcast. They are prepared to give the Government a guarantee that they will increase the yield to several tons of gold within the next twelve months, if Government batteries are installed.

As from all goldfields, romances of fortunes won creep out from this barren El Dorado so far from the Australian cities. A week or two .ago there was a story of a blind cattleman who stumbled by chance on one of the richest reefs in the district, and now has a mine worth £50,000. This week news has come of the good fortune which has awarded the perseverance of two youthful brothers, Walter and Tom Leeson.

The brothers went to Tennant Creek with a team of eleven horses from the Gulf of Carpentaria country for the East ( Cup Race Meeting last year—penniless, but with high hopes of capturing a stake, or two. The mare on which they pinned their greatest hopes died on .the way down, and on arrival at the gold township the others "went bush" or were stolen, leaving the boys with nothing but saddles.

Turning their attention to prospecting, they joined up with. Steve Butler, a picturesque: old figure on the"field, but they were soon thrown on their own initiative again, when, on a hot afternoon, Butler lay down under a tree and died. With' inadequate tools they began to sink a shaft on the claim they had pegged out, but were able to make little progress. They next started a'tunnel, and soon got on good values, but this was unprofitable with crushing and cyaniding charges at £3 a ton on top of carting. At 39 feet their luck turned. A body of quartz which they penetrated was found to be carrying very high values, with some jagged lumps of gold more than half an inch across standing out from the stone. It is profitable to dolly, and today they are numbered among the lucky prospectors on the field. ■ ■ ■'. . '